Chapter 188 Someone Did It!

On the other side, somewhere in the Emerald Star Cluster, a small fleet was sailing slowly. The insignia on the outer armor of the spacecraft indicated that this force belonged to the “Ancient Serpent,” which was Luchi's fleet, the one who had exposed Gaud's ability at the welcome meeting.

Luchi stood with his arms crossed in front of the bridge porthole, gazing at the starry sky outside the window. Beside him stood another neutral Super-A Grade, also a big shot in the black market.

"How long until we reach the Star Cluster border starlight gate?" Luchi asked without turning his head.

"Leader, about a day's journey," the distant captain hurriedly replied.

Upon hearing this, the neutral Super-A Grade beside him shook his head and said helplessly:

"I feel like we won't catch up to Gaud. Luchi, do you really need to spar with him?"

"I just want to figure out what his ability is."

"Sigh, he's a direct descendant of the empire, he can completely refuse. Are you going to dare to clash with the imperial fleet and force him to take action?"

"Hmph, I have to try."

Luchi pursed his lips, displaying an attitude of getting to the bottom of things.

After the welcome meeting, he brought his fleet and pulled in a familiar Super-A Grade to keep an eye on things. He followed Gaud's route, chasing after him to stop him and spar.

He did this not only to satisfy his own desire for knowledge. As a hidden agent of a Super Star Cluster civilization, he received a secret order from the higher-ups, requiring him to find a way to force Gaud to take action to confirm whether the other party's ability was [Energy Manipulation], which was why he persistently tracked Gaud.

Super Star Cluster civilizations basically didn't want to attack Gaud, but this kind of probing was still within the acceptable range, and they all wanted to find out Gaud's true abilities.

Just then, the spaceship's radar suddenly sounded.

"Attention! There is a space anchoring area ahead, unable to maintain warp mode. Please stop warping or detour..."

The two were stunned for a moment.

Space anchoring areas generally represent trouble. Neutral Super-A Grades who hang out in the black market basically don't like to provoke unnecessary trouble.

Just as Luchi was about to have the fleet detour, the spaceship suddenly received a communication.

"This is the Crimson Empire Exploration Army. We are temporarily inspecting all passersby. Please stop your ship immediately to cooperate. Repeat, please stop your ship immediately..."

Hearing this, Luchi had no choice but to stop the fleet. Outside the window, a line of imperial battleships blocked off a large area ahead.

Three imperial ships immediately approached, activating various detection devices to scan Luchi's fleet.

At the same time, a projection of an imperial officer appeared on the communication screen, looking at Luchi and the other person with a blank expression.

"Please show your identification code, ship navigation license, crew list, and navigation log..."

Although Luchi was unhappy, his true identity was sensitive, so he had the captain cooperate. In his opinion, there was nothing that couldn't be seen.

The imperial officer began to check. When he found that Luchi and the person next to him were Super-A Grades, his expression changed slightly, and a strong suspicion flashed in his eyes. He questioned:

"What are you doing here? Why are you passing through this area? Where is your destination?"

"Does the empire even care about this? This is one of the routes to the border Starlight Gate station. Is it strange that I'm passing through here?" Luchi frowned. "But what about you? What are you checking for by blocking off this area?"

"Looking for someone." The imperial officer was unwilling to say more and continued to check.

Just then, he suddenly discovered that Luchi's navigation log contained records of tracking Gaud. His pupils suddenly shrank, and he shouted in an unquestionable tone:

"Everyone leave the spaceship immediately and accept further inspection!"

"That's a bit much. We're just passing by," the neutral Super-A Grade next to him frowned.

"I repeat, leave the spaceship immediately and accept further inspection! Otherwise, we will enforce it!"

With that, the imperial fleet behind them activated their weapon arrays without saying a word, and cannons were aimed at Luchi's fleet, ready to fire at the slightest disagreement.

"Are you threatening me?" Luchi was immediately annoyed.

The empire was big and powerful, and the officer showed him no respect, but now he wanted to go even further, taking advantage of his position to try to manipulate him, a Super-A Grade. Did he really think Super-A Grades were easy to mess with?!

As a neutral Super-A Grade, he really couldn't afford to offend the empire, but he didn't think that any Tom, Dick, or Harry in the empire had the right to disrespect him. Besides, with the Super-A Grade Association behind him, he wasn't someone without a backer now!

"Beep beep beep..."

Just as Luchi was about to get angry, the communicators of everyone on the ship vibrated.

Luchi frowned, suppressed his anger for the time being, and took out his communicator, only to see the empire's forced pop-up announcement, and his expression changed drastically.

Gaud was missing?!

Who did this? How dare they!

Luchi's body trembled violently, and he immediately realized something was wrong.

Wait, he seemed to have been tracking Gaud, wanting to spar with him...

If Gaud was fine, this behavior would be normal and would not arouse the empire's hostility. But now it was different. Gaud had an accident, and everyone involved could not escape suspicion. Although he was just chasing behind and never even met Gaud, he was still a suspect in the eyes of the empire, and they wouldn't let go of any clues!

No wonder the imperial officer had this attitude!

Luchi knew the seriousness of the matter. Now was not the time to care about whether people respected him or not. He had to find a way to clear his suspicion.

If he dared not cooperate with the empire's work, he had no doubt that the enraged empire would vent its anger on him. Now was not the time to be brave.

Luchi's arrogance immediately subsided, and he didn't dare to get angry. He had to aggrievedly call everyone to leave the spaceship and obediently cooperate with the empire's inspection, secretly hating in his heart.

"Which bastard committed this crime? He's screwing me over!"

...

"What? Gaud is missing? Someone really attacked him?!"

The Glorious Federation President Badr suddenly stood up from his chair, looking dumbfounded.

Damn, are there really idiots?!

No, these aren't idiots, they must be lunatics!

The Chief Elder of the Parliament was also surprised and uncertain. "Who would be so bold as to attack a direct descendant of the empire? This will shake the entire situation, create a huge storm, and cause trouble for everyone!"

Badr frowned and said in a deep voice, "The Arcane and us are the same. If we don't move, they won't mess around... so 80% of it was done by the Super Star Cluster Alliance?!"

"That's right, it must be the Super Star Cluster," the Chief Elder of the Parliament nodded.

Before the incident, the two didn't think the Super Star Cluster would dare to attack, but when it really happened, in their view, excluding themselves, the case could only be done by the Super Star Cluster!

What audacity! Today they dare to attack a direct descendant of the empire, tomorrow they might dare to attack their own direct descendants?

"The Super Star Cluster's wings have hardened. It seems that the Peak War made them resentful. I think it's time to educate them again..."

Badr's eyes flickered.

The empire suffered the loss, and he was secretly happy that he could weaken the empire without having to do it himself, reaping the benefits. But on the other hand, the empire represents the ruler civilization, and as a member of it, the Glorious Federation couldn't help but feel a sense of shared hatred when the ruler's authority was challenged. These two emotions were not contradictory.

The Chief Elder of the Parliament thought for a moment, and his face darkened slightly. "Although we are not the murderers, we have the High-Dimensional Revelation Teleporter and are best at surprise assassinations. We will most likely become one of the empire's targets of suspicion."

"Well, that's also a problem, so we have to express our position and actively help the empire investigate the case." Badr thought thoughtfully, "However, we are not the only ones with this kind of teleportation ability. Who knows if the Machinery Country has stolen this technology? Also, Black Star has a similar single-person teleportation mech, he might also..."

"The Machinery Country is indeed suspicious, but he is still a Glorious Federation ally. If he did it, we are also responsible. As for Black Star..." The Chief Elder of the Parliament smiled. "Heh, as long as the empire's higher-ups have brains, they wouldn't suspect Black Star, right?"

"That's true."

Badr shook his head helplessly.

...

"Who the hell did this?!"

The Star Arc civilization leader seemed to have been struck by a bolt from the blue, and was completely stunned.

Although this was also what he wanted to do, the Star Arc civilization leader knew very well that no matter who attacked Gaud, the Super Star Cluster Alliance would definitely be the empire's primary suspect.

This was pushing them into the fire pit!

For a time, the Star Arc civilization leader was distraught, and one suspect after another flashed through his mind.

"It wasn't me! Could it be another Super Star Cluster civilization? Who would have such a motive... could it be Modo?!"

Modo had already retired early, and the war situation had nothing to do with them, so Modo was really not afraid to do this kind of thing. It was even possible that they had the motive to drag the Super Star Cluster Alliance down--it was better to have less than equal, and Modo, having lost hope of competition, wanted to make other Super Star Cluster civilizations fail with him?!

The Star Arc civilization leader's brain was racing.

Or was this the calculation of the Glorious Federation and the Arcane, to strangle the empire's talent and then frame the Super Star Cluster Alliance, making them take the blame?!

Even, this was the empire's own conspiracy, making Gaud disappear, framing the Super Star Cluster, using the topic to give the direct descendants a reason to participate in the war, and using this as an excuse to once again launch the Peak War, slaughtering the Super Star Cluster's Super-A Grades... otherwise, how could things be so sudden, how could Gaud not have any resistance at all!

The Star Arc civilization leader's face was uncertain, feeling that he had seen through everything.

This was a conspiracy against the Super Star Cluster Alliance!

The three major civilizations never give up on destroying us!

"Too passive, we have to do something! We can't let the three major civilizations fabricate things!"

The Star Arc civilization leader gritted his teeth.

Want to frame us? It's not like we don't know this trick, we have to push out a scapegoat that will leave the three major civilizations speechless!

One figure after another flashed quickly through his mind, and one of them suddenly stopped.

No lack of motivation, perfect ability, strong suspicion, and can make this person more alienated from the three major civilizations...

It's decided, it's you, Manison!

...

In just a few days, the empire's announcement swept through all the star fields like a hurricane, causing a sensation in countless regions!

Some regional terrorist organizations that didn't know their place actually brazenly claimed responsibility for the matter, but in less than a day, the imperial fleet brazenly arrived and thunderously wiped them out, leaving no survivors!

Basically everyone realized that this time, the Crimson Empire was completely and utterly enraged!

Many forces were silent, keenly smelling the approaching storm.

It seems that things are about to change...

The Super-A Grade Association also urgently convened a gathering to discuss how to deal with this matter.

In the large round table conference room on Fain Star, many Super-A Grades gathered together, discussing intensely.

"How could this kind of thing happen, it's too sudden!"

"It's only been a few days, and Gaud actually... sigh!"

"The person with this kind of strength is probably someone in the association. Who did it, stand up yourself!"

The crowd was indignant.

Although Gaud was a direct descendant, his experience made everyone feel the same way. From time to time, people turned their heads to look at Gaud's empty seat, and their faces showed a color of rabbit dead fox grieves.

The venue was as noisy as a vegetable market. At this time, Sun Hunter spoke, and his thunderous voice drowned out the audience.

Everyone turned to look, only to see him staring at Manison suspiciously, and said in a muffled voice:

"Machinery Country, tell me honestly, did you do it?"

"Nonsense! I think you've all been brainwashed by Black Star! I'm the president, how could I take the lead in violating the rules!" Manison's face twitched, annoyed and angry.

However, the crowd was dubious and still stared at Manison, sizing him up.

Black Star's persistent rhythm has long subtly planted seeds of doubt in everyone's hearts.

Seeing this, the veins on Manison's forehead tensed up, and he felt as if he was wronged like June snow.

No matter how he explained, he couldn't clear his suspicion, these Super-A Grades still suspected him... and this situation was caused by that Black Star kid!

Manison turned his head and glared at Han Xiao fiercely, wishing he could fight Han Xiao in public, making the world dark and the sun and moon dim.

At this time, Clotti slowly stood up, expressionless, and said in a cold tone:

"Gaud's disappearance, no matter which one of you did it, we will dig you out and let you understand the consequences of provoking the empire!"

Saying that, he glanced at Manison lightly, everything was self-evident.

The direct descendants of the three major civilizations usually don't speak, but at this time they all solemnly expressed their position, saying that they must catch the murderer, and many people glanced at Machinery Country, who was sitting at the head.

Manison's face became even more ugly.

However, Solokin's eyes towards Manison became more and more gentle.

If the occasion was not right, Solokin would almost want to give Manison a thumbs up, praising "Good warrior".

At this time, Han Xiao, who had not spoken much, cleared his throat, attracting everyone's attention, and then he slowly opened his mouth:

"Gaud had already joined the association before the accident, and he is also one of us, protected by the association. Now that he has an accident, this is not only a provocation to the empire, but also a provocation to the authority of the association. We have an obligation to investigate the real culprit, this is the responsibility of the association!

So I suggest that, from now on, the association announce to the outside world that it will thoroughly investigate this matter, all Super-A Grades will work together to find clues, and issue a universe kill order!"

As soon as the voice fell, everyone, whether sincere or false, all cheered.

"Vice President is right, the association can't stand idly by!"

"How dare you touch our people, are we all decorations?!"

Han Xiao's proposal hit the appetite of most people. Some people were worried that if they didn't express their position, the empire would take retaliatory actions like the Peak War, threatening their lives.

Now Han Xiao advocated that the association provide assistance, which could shift the hatred to some extent, so as not to be angered.

Moreover, protecting the safety of members is one of the responsibilities of the association, and most people are happy to see the association take action, which means that they will have this kind of treatment in the future.

For a time, there was a warm atmosphere in the field where Han Xiao waved his arms and responders gathered.

Clotti looked at Han Xiao, his expression eased a little, nodded slightly, and sat down again.

He also wanted to win the help of the association, after all, so many Super-A Grades are a very strong force, and they have a greater chance of finding the real culprit.

Black Star is an ally of the empire, very obliging, and directly decided to assist. Seeing this scene, Clotti felt more and more that the empire's strategy was correct.

"Letting Black Star control the association is definitely a good thing for the empire."

Looking at the reaction of the crowd, Han Xiao maintained the serious expression on his face, and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

This was the effect he wanted. Various forces suspected each other, but they didn't know that the real culprit was right in front of them...

This pool of water has been completely muddied by myself.